Anything in italics is action text, which means that something's either happening of someone or a setting is being described.

Person: Text is the format I use to show that a character is saying something.

Chapter 1: The Game

Three men are seen taking fighting stances against each other in a vast, seemingly endless wasteland of desert, barren of any outstanding physical traits other than large precipices of rock jutting from the earth. One is tall and muscular, standing almost seven feet tall and wielding a giant axe whose blade is wider than he is with a handle so large that his mighty hand doesn't wrap entirely around it. He has wild, black hair and his face's figures are reflect his strength. He wears long, dark pants and a jacket that barely fits over his physique and no shirt under it, leaving a portion of his chest bare, revealing long tattoos wronging across his body.

He braces his axe and charges forward at the second man, whose clothing reads, ‘Atril.' He brings his axe down on Atril with all of his might, but instead feels himself cutting through nothing and making an impact on the ground instead, bits of earth flying from the collision. The image of Atril he had tried to cut through, still smiling, simply vanishes. The warrior turns quickly around to try and locate where Atril had vanished before he could strike, but instead found himself preoccupied dodging arrows from the third man.

The third man had made his way to the top of one of the precipices and was firing arrows from a long, dark bow. The bow had jagged edges jutting from the front. The archer wore long green robes with a hood, giving him the overall appearance of a clean-shaven Robin Hood. He fired arrows from his bow in such rapid succession that it was almost impossible to tell when one arrow was fired and when another arrow was being readied. Down below, the warrior ran fluidly for a man his size, dodging as many arrows as he could, being grazed across his body by a few. He reached the bottom of the archer's perch and slammed his axe into its base. The entire precipice crumbled under the force, and the archer jumped, landing nimbly at the base as the precipice crashed around them. The warrior slammed his axe down again, this time as the archer, and the archer held out his bow and defended the blow. The archer was nearly knocked back by the force, but braced his leggings and held strong. The warrior pushed with more force, causing the archer to bend to one knee as he tried to hold back the axe. With a quick flick of his wrist, he managed to catch the axe between two of the edges in the front of his bow and forced the axe to the side, giving him time to sidestep the warrior and in a rapid movement almost invisible to the human eye, fire an arrow point-blank into the warriors side.

The warrior winced in pain but was not deterred, bringing his axe around towards the archer once again. The archer tries to block again, but this time the force is too great, causing the bow to go flying from the archer's hands. Seeing his opportunity, the warrior began to lay siege to the archer with a series of powerful swings. The archer nimbly avoided most of the blows, but one grazed him too close and caused him to lose his balance and fall over. The warrior raised his axe to make a finishing blow but was blasted away by a powerful beam of light, firing at him from behind and sending him skidding across the ground.

Atril stood proudly from a distance. He wore casual wear, a blue top and black slacks, both sporting his name, not quite fashionable enough to be considered designer wear but enough that he possesses a certain presence of fashion. He face was calm and confident and he had short, blond hair that he kept slicked back. He had a small staff that looked barely different than a walking stick aimed outwards towards the warrior. The warrior rose just in time to dodge a second beam fired from Atril's staff. He ran nimbly at Atril, attempting to come at him with his axe. Atril raised his staff in the air and a barrier of red light surrounded him, reflecting the warriors charge. The warrior flew backwards, unable to get a quick bearing on the ground and unable to stop Atril's next attack. Atril shouted a short incantation.

Atril: Nu Restoris De Flame!

A wave of flames shot forth from Atril's staff, engulfing the warrior. A short cry from the warrior was all that was heard before his body became completely lost in the flame.

The archer saw his chance and rolled across the ground, grabbing his bow. Atril fired a beam of light at the archer as he did this, but the archer rolled just in time, avoiding the blast. The archer ran around Atril with great speed, dodging all his beams and firing almost his entire quiver of arrows at him. But every arrow was stopped short by Atril's red shield. The archer was left with only a single arrow. Atril smiled confidently at him.

Atril: Nice try, better luck next time.

Archer: You haven't won yet, you have to hit me to do that.

Atril: Heh, well lets see if you're quick enough to dodge this one, when this entire field goes up in flames!

Atril raises his staff to about eye-level and shouts a longer incantation.

Atril: Nu Restoris De Flame, Second Form, Dragon's Breathe Give My Flames Power! Nu Restoromis De Flame! Dragon's Fire!

Flames shoot forth in every direction from Atril's staff. The archer was waiting for this moment, and readies his arrow towards the oncoming flames.

Archer: The only time you're vulnerable from behind that shield is when you cast! Piecing Arrow! Hit The Mark!

He fires the arrow, which explodes into a glowing white bolt of energy, leaves a glowing white trail in its wake. It cuts through the flames, causing them to part around the archer, and continues straight through Atril's shield and though his chest. The flames vanish and Atril drops to one knee.

Atril: Heh, lucky shot.

Atril drops face first to the ground, dead.

Voice: Very good, very good! It seems all the systems work wonderfully!

A screen flashes and a rotating image of all three of the men are displayed, along with various stats for the men. At the top are names, above the warrior the name ‘Darren," above the archer, "Relocet," and above the mage, "Atril." A short, sloppily dressed, slender man with thick glasses and a white lab coat examined the screens carefully. A news crew is in the area with him and begins to question him. The man is very excitable, talking quickly and pacing back and forth between the machines and the news crew.

Reporter: Dr. Harlemen, I must say that was an impressive display, and that was just based on what I had seen on the screen. And you say all of that were three players virtually playing those characters.

Dr. Harlemen: Yes, yes, indeed it was. The world's first true virtual reality game! Sure, other games have claimed to be, but that's all talk. ‘Virtual Reality' doesn't just mean a few rooms you can walk around in or putting a few senses into a helmet, no, no! The entire body needs to be involved, 100%! And the world has to be expansive, not just a small extension of our own world but a new ‘reality' of its own! That's what ‘virtual reality' means!

Reporter: And how does this work exactly?

Dr. Harlemen: I'll show you!

He flips a few switches and part of the machines he was working on split in half and part, and a long, table like surface with a human-sized chamber on top of it slowly slides out from it.

Dr. Harlemen: In here is one of the three moderators for the game you just saw fighting. Inside this tube his body is cooled, sort of like cryogenic freezing except the body is still alive, it is only cooled enough to slow its functions so that lying in that state for extended periods of time doesn't cause the body harm. Then several billion nano-bots are released into the chamber, forming sensory connections on almost every nerve on the human, excluding those that cause pain. Finally, a mask is placed over the player's head, one that connects the player's senses of sight, smell, and taste to the virtual world.

As Harlemen explained the last part, images diagramming this process are seen.

Dr. Harlemen: With all the senses connected to the virtual world, a player than has the sensation that he is actually in that world, and actually is the character he is playing as. To him, the virtual reality is true reality. The player has complete control over his character, every action or movement that person could actually do in reality; he can now do in virtual reality. And as you saw from that demo on screen, those actions can be easily enhanced to fit the exceptional powers of a game character.

Reporter: And how extensive is this world you designed for this system?

Dr. Harlemen: Practically the size of the entire North American continent, in terms of the world itself. It seems extensive, yes, but actually that was the easiest part, you see, all I have to do is do an analysis of brain waves when a person is in an area, say, in a desert, than I just take those waves and use the sensors to create an identical situation in the virtual world, or one modified by me for a particular purpose. Of all the systems of this game, creating the world itself was certainly the easiest.

Reporter: And what other systems are there?

Dr. Harlemen: A fully interactive environment in which every item is just as useable as in reality, a food consumption system that not only allows you to taste food but allows virtual food to actually nourish your real body, many, many things just to make the virtual world an actual ‘reality.' It's taken 8 years, hundreds of scientists like me, and a budget nearing one billion dollars, but the system finally runs smoothly.

Reporter: All funded by V-TV Tech, right?

Dr. Harlemen: Yes, V-TV Tech found my small research team when we were just getting started. Originally, I was researching virtual reality as a form of therapy, as a matter of fact we've made great strides in that field. V-TV Tech agreed to fund us under the condition we used our findings to make this game to their specifications, and that they get control a special contest for its launch.

Reporter: Yes, the contest that was what the world has been waiting for. Last year, V-TV Tech traveled the world telling everyone about a contest in which the winners got to be lucky ones to first test play this game.

Dr. Harlemen: Indeed, and I have more details to give. Of all the entries we received, from countries all over the world, 20,000 lucky gamers will get the chance to test play this game. The test play will involve an all out melee of all the entries, one that will likely last several months, the last surviving contestant winning a cash prize of 100 million dollars!

Reporter: V-TV Tech has increased the cash prize?

Dr. Harlemen: They want to make sure the prize is large enough that everyone takes the game seriously and wants to win. The winning contestants can check our website for there names in about five minutes time.

Reporter: Sounds exciting! And like quite the vacation.

Dr. Harlemen: Indeed, with the extensive amount of food and relaxation spots available to virtual world those contestants who don't dedicate their time fully to battle will find the virtual world more than an adequate vacation spot.

It flashes to images of fancy cuisine and stretching beaches.

Reporter: Sounds great. Maybe I'll be one of the lucky winners! This is Liz Repostes reporting for Channel 6 News.

A TV flicks off.